OREANDA-NEWS.  By 2020, a new territory development model will have been established in East China's Anhui province, the provincial government said at Tuesday's executive meeting.
 
The attendees approved a program for development priority zones, aiming for "more efficient territory development, more coordinated urban and rural development, better ecological environment and more sustainable development".
 
Under the program, the province will set a strategic pattern for urbanization focusing on the Anhui-Section Yangtze River City Belt, Hefei Economic Rim and North Anhui Urban Cluster.
 
Also, a strategic pattern for agriculture will emerge, showing that wheat, cotton, corn and bean are mainly grown in plains to the north of the Huaihe River, rape in areas between the Huaihe River and the Yangtze River, rice, wheat, cotton and rape in plains along the Yangtze River, and tea in Dabie Mountain and South Anhui regions.
 
Ecological security networks will also be created in regions surrounding the Dabei Mountain, in South Anhui, or between the Huaihe River and Yangtze River.
 
The program said Anhui's urbanization rate will approach 60 percent in 2020 and that of its development priority zones, which account for 23.87 percent of its territory, will increase to 70 percent. Meanwhile, the province's forest coverage rate will rise to 35 percent from 2010’s 27.53 percent and about 80 percent of water in major rivers and lakes will meet standards.